The Carrero Effect - Falling for the Boss (Billionaire CEO)

“Keep her warm for me until I come back, Jacob!” Leila grinned cheekily and took off at speed, knowing that Jake was probably about to explode and hightailing it so she could leave them alone. She knew there would be repercussions later, but she didn’t really care.

“That girl,” Jake said tightly, irritation concealed but his anger simmering inside. He avoided looking at Emma, wondering how the hell he could walk away from her and leave her here alone while looking so utterly fucking lost right now. She had an air of Bambi with big eyes and seemed to be suddenly uncomfortable with Leila’s departure. Jake couldn’t control the stomach punching sensation it gave him.

“You’ve got to love her though.” Emma shrugged nervously, biting on her bottom lip and causing yet another wave of excruciating pain. All her little anxiety tells had always been a point of agony for him, he hated seeing her doing it but right now any little Emma-ism was just killing him more. He missed everything about her so much.

Do you really have no idea how goddamn adorable you are?

The music was moving into full swing as couples moved around them, joining together to sway. Emma went into ultimate fidget mode almost immediately, twirling her hair like she always did when she was tense, looking around for an escape route and pretty much making him feel like the biggest asshole known to man. He watched her hand in her hair intensely for a second, lost in so many thoughts and memories, hating the habit yet pining for the familiarness of it. He realized she had caught his look, misunderstood what it meant and yanked her fingers out of her hair like a scolded child.

Great! Another notch of assholeness.

Jake frowned and looked about the floor, making a decision almost instantly.

“Want to dance with me, Anderson?” He had no clue why he thought this was the best course of action, all he knew was that he didn’t want to walk away and leave her here and had no desire to see anyone else dance with her. He would kick seven shades of shit out of any guy who dared touch her. She looked momentarily shocked, color draining from her face a little and her fingers twitched as though aching to be back in her hair. Jake felt a warmth of compassion, an old memory of her looking this unsure and untrusting of his intentions once before.

“I don’t bite.” Jake smiled at the memory of a long-ago moment in his office. Emma seemed to register the memory too, a small smile warming her mouth and looked a little less shell shocked.

it was almost impulsive to just reach for her. Pulling her close by the wrist, encircling

over his heart and with a searing touch, he was sure she could probably feel how hard and fast his heart was beating. He couldn’t tear his eyes from that perfect red mouth as he drew closer. Emma looked stricken suddenly, a mixture of emotions flitting across her face so fast he had

voice breaking, and he could have sworn he saw a glint of a tear in her eye, but she was turning from him and trying to break free. Jake impulsively caught her chin with his fingers, tilting her back to him so he could try to read what she was feeling. Confused at seeing a look that, to him spelled out complete heartbreak and rendered him almost immobile as he tried to piece together what it meant. Before he had a chance

away, face down so her hair spilled forward to hide her features from him. Jake felt panic rising within him, confusion and emotion

warring for space, chaos clouding logical thought as his body seemed to jolt into a mess of heart-pounding sickening panic. He kept questioning that look, trying to dissect in seconds why she would look at him the way he had been looking at himself in the mirror for weeks. His head skimming

for his phone, looking up to see if she was still close enough to catch and realizing she was completely

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

glued to the spot, uncertainty keeping him here despite every part of his being screaming at him to go after her. It was then that it hit him, like a sudden lightning bolt moment. He had to know if he was just imagining it or if she could feel the same for him

shaking, he skimmed songs quickly until he found one which had been

hoping to God she had her cell with her. He had nothing else to lose, he had lost everything when she had walked out of his office and standing there watching her leave was only a harsh reminder that he would never love anyone the way he loved her. He needed

sent an iTunes gift to

notice popped up on his phone and

sent Jessie Wares—‘Say

now, she could only take that song one way and he would finally know for sure if he had ever stood a chance with her. The world seemed to stop around him, music dulling out to nothing, as the rush of blood ran through his